Kuri woke and rolled over, looking at Inuyasha's sleeping form form. She went to his side and checked his injury from a recent demon. It looked as if it had finally healed over. She gently unwrapped and re-wrapped his bandages, only to feel a harsh hand on her wrist.

"Inuyasha, it is only me," she said calmly, though wincing as his claws dug into her flesh.

Upon hearing her voice, Inuyasha instantly released her. "We are almost to your well, Kuri."

"Yes," Kuri replied, dipping a cloth in some hot water from the fire and tending to his wounds, making him wince again. "When we arrive I can go and get supplies that will aid you in recovery."

Inuyasha looked up at the girl. Her hair, hands, and chest were caked in his blood. He did not understand why she had followed to give him medical attention. Without her superior supplies from the other world, he may have been in mortal danger.

He caught her hand in his own. "Kuri. Go home and get some rest. Clean up."

"I will not!" she protested, drawing her hand out of his. "Don't you dare send me away when you are weak like this!"

Inuyasha merely laughed. "I can manage. I am stronger than I appear. Reiko will tend to my wounds in your absence."

Kuri sighed, knowing there was no arguing with him. She left for the present.

Xxx

Kuri came home to find Hojo taking care of the house for them.

"What happened?" he asked immediately. "You're covered in blood!"

"It isn't mine," Kuri said softly. "I am going to bathe and then we need to perform a memory recall ceremony."

Kuri came out of the shower and put on her robe, then went to the bedroom and pulled out the family Book of Shadows. She began to read:

"Remove the chains of time and space

And make my spirit soar.

Let these mortal arms embrace

The life that haunts before."

There was a swirl of wind in the house, and it shook at the foundations. Hojo stepped in the room just in time to watch as Kuri eyes went blank and slowly her features changed. Soon standing before him was not the modern witch he had come to know and love, but a powerful priestess from the past.

Her cold eyes turned to him. "Where am I? What is this place?"

"You are in the future," Hojo replied. "Kuri Hikawa is the name of your reincarnated form. She called you here because your memory was haunting her."

"I—" the woman paused, wincing in pain as a wound sliced through her shoulder. A tear rolled down her cheek. "I remember…my death. That traitor...Naraku! I thought he and I were...!"

Hojo pulled out some bandages and tended to her wounds. "I believe there is more to the story then you think. Kuri has a sister, Reiko. If you are able to get to her and take hold of her arm, you will be able to see for yourself the true circumstances of your own death."

"Reiko? The fox girl?" the priestess asked. "She was also there...when I slaughtered Inuyasha in our battle. She lives?"

"They all do. They were reincarnated." Hojo replied.

The priestess stood, the bandaging finished. "Thank you. I will go now. This girl Kuri has instructed me on how to get to my home."

Xxx

Inuyasha was just now waking up. He yawned a little, and then jumped down to find Reiko still sleeping, cuddled up with Shippo.

Before Kuri had left he had noticed she was wounded on the leg.

Inuyasha sighed. If it weren't for him she wouldn't have been hurt. He should have just told her the truth.

Why had she gone and said what she did? She had basically said she'd let him become a full demon even if it meant her life! Was she nuts? Or was she testing him to see if he'd take it anyway?

No. He would never be that selfish. Maybe there was a way to get what he wanted without hurting anyone.

His head jerked up suddenly at a familiar smell. That was…Sadako's scent. The woman who had ended everything. With her power she had turned him into a full demon and made him kill his family.

He stood, unable to stop himself really, and ran in the direction of the scent. He came to a clearing. The well. No surprise, really. It was so close to where they had parted. Where she had destroyed his life.

He stared at her. She was dressed in the weird clothes of the future for some reason, but no mistaking it, that was Sadako. She looked distinctly different from the twins.

Her long, eerie black hair to her feet. The skull-like face with the sunken eyes. The ethereal beauty despite her fearful appearance.

"S-Sadako…" he was finally able to find his voice.

Sadako looked upon him, her wound re-opened from her climb up the well.

"Inuyasha!" she yelled in anger. "Why are you alive?! You were supposed to kill them and yourself in return for killing me!"

"I didn't—" Inuyasha began, stunned.

"Never mind!" she hissed. "I am not here for your excuse. I will only believe the truth! Where is Reiko Kurama?"

"Sadako this isn't about her!" Inuyasha said, trying desperately to distract the angered priestess. He wouldn't let her kill his pack again.

But Sadako would not be distracted. She wished for an answer. She walked past Inuyasha and into the forest, following the trail until she arrived where Reiko was still sleeping.

She placed a hand on Reiko's arm and her eyes closed as she was forced into the memories of the young fox demon.

Xxx

"My beloved, Sadako." Onigumo said.

He was somehow restored to life and health, and he gave her a kiss.

She never questioned how he had acquired a human body; she knew he did it for her.

"You must slaughter the Taisho pack and recover the Shikon no Tama from Midoriko's corpse. And use his demon blood to do it. Soaked in the blood of their misery; it shall become beautiful, and we shall use it to rule these lands!" He kissed her again.

Sadako was not nearly as powerful as the priestess Midoriko.

But her curses were very strong.

Xxx

"Inuyasha!" She struck him with her Nensha power.

As the half-demon crumpled in agony, feeling all the worst parts of his life; Sadako cursed him.

His body twisted into demon form, and he snarled, losing himself to his feral tendencies.

"Kill your pack. Bring me the Shikon no Tama, and end your wretched life!"

Xxx

The scene shifted and Sadako watched through the fox's eyes as Inuyasha slaughtered her and she lay bleeding on the forest floor.

But before Inuyasha could kill the rest of his pack, Midoriko, nearly dead, pinned him to the tree with her sword.

Xxx

That pest! And now she had been reborn into this body! This priestesses body!

"Release my sister." Reiko, now awake, snarled.

"I want...to see Onigumo." Sadako's voice was quiet, vulnerable.

"A life sundered by another

Call to the powers like no other

Come with me into the light

I call you now, make this right!"

Reiko chanted.

Sadako pulled from the body of Kuri, and the two crumpled to the floor.

Xxx

Kuri stood in front of Sadako.

A barrier had forced everyone to withdraw.

"So...now that you know who I am...will you kill me, Midoriko?" Sadako asked.

"Who am I to kill someone who has just been born?" Kuri said gently. "Besides...you can hardly be as evil as you seem...you have a great capacity to love. Go." She drew her sword. "Before I change my mind."

Sadako was gone. A shimmer in the air the only sign she had been there.

Xxx

Inuyasha entered the clearing before the others.

He was the fastest.

"Why?" Inuyasha demanded. "Why did you let her live?"

"It would have been like killing a part of myself." Kuri said simply. I simply don't have the strength to do it."

Kuri looked up at him. "Not yet."

Inuyasha touched her cheek. "She could have killed you!"

"No. She can't harm me anymore than I can harm her." Kuri said softly. "We...have a bond...of some kind."

Inuyasha gave her a quizzical look. He didn't like it. He didn't want anyone, man or woman, to have any sort of claim on Kuri's heart.

Inuyasha seemed to struggle with something.

"What? What is it?" Kuri asked.

"Your leg…is it better?" he finally asked.

"Yes," Kuri replied. "It barely hurts now."

"I'm…sorry," Kuri said after some pause.

Inuyasha somehow understood. She was apologizing for all of it.

"All's forgiven," Inuyasha said, attempting a carefree smile and sort of botching it up.

Kuri turned a bit awkwardly and went a ways away, sitting down and looking up at this stars. Inuyasha knew what was on her mind.

He didn't understand why it upset him.

Finally, he went to sleep, resting against the tree, Reiko and Shippo at his feet.

But his dreams were full of his feral demon self, and instead of Midoriko's screams—he could only hear Kuri's agonized voice.